August 19, 2018

New Deal

George Balanchine: Square Dance, Tarantella & Symphony in Three Movement.

Peter Martins: Ash,

Jerome Robbins: In the Night

August 18, 2018

All Contemporary:

Peter Martins: Hallelujah Junction,

Christopher Wheeldon: After the Rain Pas de Deux,

Alexei Ratmansky: Pictures at an Exhibition

Justin Peck: The Times are Racing

August 19, 2018

After a tumultuous year, New York City Ballet is back in Copenhagen for their 10th season in TIVOLI. The tradition started in 1978, and had continued since. Three years ago, NYCB also visited Copenhagen. However, that visit what organized with the Royal Danish Ballet and procured the new large opera stage for the company. The larger and top modern opera stage gave the company the space needed for larger ballets by Balanchine, Christopher Wheeldon and Alexei Ratmansky.

Back in TIVOLI in a concert hall, not build for big scale ballets, several of the big cast ballet are squished in and the contributions this time by Wheeldon and Ratmansky is on a smaller scale than seen in last visit.

NYCB landed in Copenhagen almost at the same time, the press announced the job request for the next leader of NYCB following our fellow Dane Peter Martins´ standing down after accusations of harassment of female company members. The company we met have now spent almost a year being run by a committee. It must have been a challenge for them. However, it is not the only issue, the company is facing.

Historically, the company is based on the works of George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. Peter Martins have provided a number of his own work, some following the patterns laid by primarily Balanchine, but also his own productions of international concepts like “Swan Lake” and “Romeo & Juliet”. Martins´ has also opened the door for choreographers like Alexei Ratmansky and Christopher Wheeldon. Justin Peck has been in-house choreographer for a number of years. Justin Peck is presently part of the committee, running the company, until a new leader is in place.

This week the press broke the news and published the list of experience and skills, the company would like the next leader to poses. Interestingly, choreography is not on the list. Either the group has realized that there will not be time for creations as the applicant will be stuck with a long list of activities, or the committee feels that the current practice is working fine. The later views could prove to be a big mistake. No matter how many Balanchine and Robbins ballets the company have in store, it cannot survive on the stock alone.

One of the conclusions, I must draw based on this festival, is that all is not well in Balanchine Land.

Understanding Your Role

The first program “All Balanchine” displayed three of the most important of his works: “Serenade”, “Four Temperaments” and “Symphony in C”. One could almost compare this program with “Jewels”: A romantic Ballet, a high-speed semi modern work and finally the big Russian classic. However, “Serenade” was cleaned from any romanticism, the lighting was raw, and even the finale lacked mystery and feeling.

In the case of “Four Temperaments”, it look like several of the key dancers had little understanding of the temperament, they should present. The dancer doing “Choleric” was nowhere near the personality trait. Only Ask la Cour, an experienced performer of the “Phlegmatic” was able to give all the nuances of the character.

It is a timeline issue. The keepers of the where and why´s are long gone from the company. The dancers, whom these ballets was choreographed for are no longer on hand. Balanchine and Robbins created ballets for specific dancers using their talent and skills to the max. The current dancers, now taking over the roles, have no longer the source at hand.

Classics like “Serenade”, “Four Temperaments” and “Symphonie in C” will continue to survive. However, vital details may disappear from lack of knowledge and understanding.

Old or New?

In order to stay in business, NYCB is constantly presenting new ballets, while still having to serve the heritage. It is a tough deal.

Of the 14 ballets presented on this visit, Royal Danish Ballet have danced eight, of witch, Peter Martins “Hallelullah Junction” was actually created for RDB, where it was not considered a hit and never reappeared. Now it was part of the All Contemporary evening.

This program also included works by Christopher Wheeldon, who had danced at NYCB and been house choreographer for NYCB, and Alexei Ratmansky, who has also choreographed several works for NYCB. Ratmansky spend some years as a principal dancer and budding choreographer at Royal Danish Ballet, before becoming artistic director at Bolshoi. Christopher Wheeldon has also choreographed “Sleeping Beauty” for the RDB and the company have several of his ballets in the repertoire including “Alice”. We are all competing to gain these outstanding choreographers.

Here the Wheeldon contribution, “After the Rain” is a quiet pas de deux depending on the dancers’ ability to interpret an intimate relation. Maria Kowroski and Ask La Cour has the dramatic range needed.

Alexei Ratmansky´s “Pictures at an Exhibition” again demonstrated the talent and skills by the choreographer and the ensemble. It was a ballet that took the NYCB dancers to a new place and it managed to as once respecting the Mussorgsky classic and renewing it.

I cannot say the same regarding “The Times are Racing” by Justin Peck to music by Dan Deacon. Here the NYCB dancers are back at the schoolyard pretending to be hip teenagers. It is a high tempo ballet, but that is all you can say about it. Compared to what contemporary choreographers like Akram Kahn and others are currently presenting, this is very light stuff.

Outside Help

The Third Program “Classic New York City Ballet” combined three outstanding Balanchine works “Square Dance”, “Tarantella” and “Symphony in Three Movements” with the only Jerome Robbins ballet in the Tivoli season “In the Night” and with Peter Martins “Ash”. The later was definitely the weakest link in the program.

It is easy and obvious to conclude that what is both new and outstanding in the NYCB repertoire is coming from the strong international choreographers like Wheeldon and Ratmansky. This leaves NYCB in the same situation as most other companies, fighting for the attention of that precious bunch. What we saw here from Martins and Peck is not really going very far, and we can possibly conclude that Peter Martins has made his last contribution as a choreographer for NYCB.

Finding the next leader is just one of the challenges facing NYCB. An equal important task is to preserve the heritage of Balanchine and Robbins and somehow find a way to gain new valuable productions to keep the dancers and audience committed. Finding a new company director is a starting point. Continuing being an attractive employer for top talent is also important. Several NYCB stars have been lured to Broadway musicals and some have decided not to return to the ballet world. Whoever get the job will be faced with multiple challenges. Failing is no option. This is about preserving and developing not only an American art institution, but also an important part of world heritage.